Fall River approves zoning change for former Quaker Fabric site

Wednesday

Sep 23, 2009 at 12:01 AMSep 23, 2009 at 11:17 PM

With local job losses mounting and the economy foundering, the city council enthusiastically expedited a rezoning change to help bolster a proposed 300,000-square-foot retail/commercial project on former Quaker Fabric industrial property near the Route 24/Interstate 195 interchange.

Michael Holtzman

With local job losses mounting and the economy foundering, the city council enthusiastically expedited a rezoning change to help bolster a proposed 300,000-square-foot retail/commercial project on former Quaker Fabric industrial property near the Route 24/Interstate 195 interchange.

The council unanimously accepted the request of developer Jim Karam and his lawyer Bruce Assad to approve all readings at Tuesday night’s meeting and approve the rezoning to “local business.”

The council’s ordinance committee recommended the change during a subcommittee earlier in the night. On July 14, the planning board recommended approval after its public hearing.

“We’re looking for the last bit to push through before we start the project,” Assad told the ordinance committee.

The next steps for partners Karam, of First Bristol Corp., and Jack Marshall, of Marshall Properties in Providence, under the name Quequechan Development LLC, will be a six-month environmental and traffic approval process through the state.

Under the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act, which will govern this project, developers need to issue an environmental notification form on the scope of their work and permitting, Karam said.

Ground breaking on the first of two phases is eyed for a year from now in the third quarter of 2010 and opening of roughly 150,000 square feet of space a year later, Karam said.

Assad and Karam — the WSAR radio co-owner who said he’s done roughly 3 million square feet of real estate development in the city and region — said the rezoning would spur commitments from corporate retailers and others.

The Zoning Board of Appeals previously granted a variance to build commercial/retail space in an industrial district on Brayton Avenue and Jefferson Street, on roughly 32 buildable acres. Nearly half the remaining acreage is not buildable because of the Quequechan River and highway system.

Assad, who’s the attorney for the School Committee, said large corporations prefer approval to build “by right” before committing to projects.

“They don’t want to invest millions of dollars based on variances,” he said.

Though Assad’s listed the investment at $30 million, Karam amended the figure afterwards to the $20 million to $27 million range “depending upon what happens.”

He said the faltering economy has caused would-be tenants to delay plans and commitments to build stores. “We have no firm commitments,” he said several times.

Asked if Lowe’s home improvement would be part of the project, he said, “Lowe’s is one of the interested parties” among others showing interest but not commitments.

Karam said he and his partner are close to closing on the bankrupt Quaker property that Quaker Grinnell LLC sold in 2008 for $6 million, and another 12 to 14 usable acres that had been the Mill Stores Plaza owned by Robert Kfoury. The two closings will take place in December and October, respectively, Karam said.

Assad, during his brief presentation, said the project, when fully built, would generate 350 permanent jobs (three-fourths full-time), another 250 construction jobs, hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual city real estate taxes and millions in taxes for the state.

When Joseph Sousa, who finished 18th in the City Council preliminary race, asked about traffic studies for the area, Karam referred to changes for the area. He said there would be an extensive study under the MEPA regulations and they’d invest $1½ million in traffic lights, road widening and related improvements.

Karam said there would be efforts made to give priority to city residents for temporary and permanent jobs, without stating specific commitments.